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Faith and Film: I Can Only Imagine
Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.
I Can Only Imagine is a faith-based film that has become a surprise hit this spring. It tells the “story behind the story” of the song of the same name which became a popular hit for the Contemporary Christian music group MercyMe a few years ago.
The film tells the story of Bart Millard (J. Michael Finley), lead vocalist of MercyMe, who wrote the song as a tribute to his late father. Bart was raised in rural Texas by his father Arthur (Dennis Quaid) and his mother Adele. Arthur is angry and both physically and verbally abusive to Bart and Adele. When he was a young boy, Adele took Bart to a church summer camp to get him out of the house. Bart enjoyed the camp, where he met Shannon, whom he will eventually marry. When camp was over, Bart returned home and was shocked to find that Adele had left.
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Springfield Dominican Sister Catherine Stewart, OP has a new book out called 
On Sunday, April 29th, 10 women and men were welcomed into the Dominican Family. After 2 years of formation, they were invited to make their 1st Commitment to live the Dominican way of life for one year. In her welcoming remarks, Sr. Donna Pollard, OP reminded us of our Dominican heritage. “It is great to see so many of you here and we are delighted you could join us today. Our Dominican Order began over 800 years ago. And from the very beginning there were women and men, priests, sisters, nuns, brothers, lay – all equal and all true Dominicans. Today we carry on that 800+ year tradition.” She also reminded us that we were celebrating St. Catherine of Siena’s Feast Day, “during Catherine’s life and for us during this Easter time, our lives are filled with opportunities to gather at family tables – today is no different…we gather today with family and friends at the Eucharistic table.”
